Features of the Programme

1. Leadership

In recognition of students entering the programme with 3 or more years of tertiary level education, the course will be delivered at a significantly higher level than would normally be found in an undergraduate pharmacy degree programme. To this end, teaching in the course will draw on a wide spectrum of expertise from both within and outside the university, and students will be afforded opportunities to explore in detail issues related to pharmacy and pharmaceutical science and to communicate these findings. The intent underpinning this approach is to produce confident graduates who are prepared to accept and initiate leadership roles in the profession of pharmacy and broader health related activities.

2. Interprofessional Learning and Biomedicine

The aim here is to provide students with a deep appreciation of their role in health care delivery through (i) participation in courses taught jointly with 3rd year UWA medical students and other health care professionals taking postgraduate classes in public health, and (ii) exposure to researchers at UWA doing innovative basic research in areas that will have an impact on health in the future.

The close association between future pharmacists and other health care professionals will lay a sound foundation for health care delivery in the long term.

3. Clinical Pharmacy Practice

There is a strong clinical pharmacy theme running throughout the programme. At the outset, the emphasis is placed on 'process' in the evaluation of a patient's therapy, but focuses more and more on 'analysis' as the course continues . This is reflected in assessment practices whereby towards the end of the programme, written examinations in pharmacy practice give way to oral presentations and vivas concerned with the analysis of clinical cases. These skills are honed through extensive exposure to clinical cases during Pharmacy Placement II (Trimester 5) when students undertake case studies, beginning at the bedside, in metropolitan hospitals participating in the UWA Pharmacy Programme.

4. Research

Providing students with a significant level of research training by offering a substantial research project in areas related to pharmacy and pharmaceutical science. Students will join laboratories or research groups across several faculties on a project of their choosing ranging from the isolation of natural medicinal substances to public health and small business practice. Research in pharmacy practice is a priority area of the programme.